Voting underway for bypolls on 54 Assembly seats in 10 states

Voting began for by-elections on 54 Assembly seats spread across 10 states on Tuesday morning.

A total of 28 seats in Madhya Pradesh, 8 in Gujarat, 7 in Uttar Pradesh, 2 each in Odisha, Nagaland, Karnataka and Jharkhand, and one seat each in Chhattisgarh, Telangana and Haryana going to polls today.

Voting will be held from 7 am to 6 pm, except in Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Nagaland where the timings are different. Voters who are COVID-19 positive will be allowed to vote separately in the last hour.

Counting of votes will be held on November 10.

BJP Uttar Pradesh unit chief Swantantra Dev Singh also urged people to vote while following COVID-19 guidelines.

"Bye-elections are being held in 7 assembly seats in Uttar Pradesh today. I request all voters to follow the guidelines of Covid-19 and go to your nearest polling station and vote and play the role of a conscious citizen in a healthy democratic system. Voting first, then refreshment!" he tweeted.

By-elections are being held on 28 seats in Madhya Pradesh following the resignation of 25 MLAs and the death of three legislators earlier.

In March this year, 22 Congress MLAs resigned from the state Assembly paving the way for BJP's Shivraj Singh Chouhan to take over as Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister for the fourth time.

Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar appealed to people to vote in Baroda bypoll.

"My dear people of Baroda, Each and every vote is valuable. I appeal to all of you to participate in the celebration of democracy in greater numbers with your family and vote," he tweeted.

BJP has fielded yet again Olympic medalist Yogeshwar Dutta in Baroda against Congress candidate Induraj Narwal. The bypoll has been necessitated due to the demise of sitting Congress MLA Krishna Hooda.